Culturing Newcomers

OK OK I'll shut up now.

And fwiw DUO, friends of mine do this with the oldschool goth scene too, attempting to keep its origins alive, reminding the babygoths it didnt all start with the Cure and Manson, talking up bands etc. I think its noble, as long as it isnt done with a ("sneer").

*ahem* sorry couldnt resist =)

I think as soon as one even thinks about "preserving a scene" or "educating newcomers," the scene is in peril. The most amazing thing about good scenes, when they're happening, is that they seem so unselfconscious: everybody's having too much fun, and behaving too spontaneously, to think about "what do we do to make sure this doesn't stop happening" & so on.

That said I think your impulse to tell the trance kids that there's something really fun & cool in the house scene is great! Point people to where you think the party's at, I say. And those longtimers who complain that all the new people have diluted the scene? Those kinds of people are in every scene. From minute one, they stand around waiting for their golden opportunity to say "this scene was so much better back before all these new people showed up," or "these parties stopped being fun sometime around last November," or "you'll never know just how special this whole scene was when it first started, I've never seen anything like it - this is just a shadow of the huge potential" etc etc etc. There's a word for these kinds of people: "Rockists."

The latter is classic, and like the cool older sibling I always wish I'd had, you can introduce people to things they'd never find otherwise. I love being able to do this - after all, its how I learned all about new wave/post punk/indie.

I also hate it when people show other people some scene theyre into and then get the shits because everyone then starts liking it, with that whole "but I was here FIRST you guys suck you're just copying me". Had an ex who did this ALL THE TIME grr chiz.